Eph 139 10/27/85, 173 12-8-85, 308 6/19/86, 628 8/25/87

DOCTRINE OF COMMON GRACE

A. Because man is born spiritually dead, he cannot be effective at two points in his life as an unbeliever

: 1. At the point of Gospel hearing the unbeliever is spiritually dead. He is totally helpless and cannot have a relationship with God. He is dichotomous, and cannot understand spiritual phenomena, 1 Cor 2:14, “But the soulish man [unbeliever] does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for to him it is foolishness. Furthermore, he is not able to acquire knowledge, because it [the Gospel] is investigated spiritually.”

a. So in evangelism and personal witnessing, God the Holy Spirit is the sovereign executive. He will only use what is accurate and true in the field of Biblical soteriology.

b. Just as a living person cannot communicate with a dead person and visa versa, so a living evangelist cannot make perspicuous the Gospel to the spiritually dead unbeliever unless that person is listening to him, and unless the Holy Spirit makes the content perspicuous.

c. In the function of common grace, God the Holy Spirit acts as a human spirit to enable the spiritually dead unbeliever to comprehend the Gospel. d. The unbeliever may hear the Gospel, but he must be willing to listen to the Gospel for common grace to function. The volition of the unbeliever provides the non-meritorious willingness to listen, while God the Holy Spirit provides comprehension of the facts.

e. The two enabling ministries of the Holy Spirit in evangelism are compared to breathing. The inhale: the unbeliever listens to the Gospel, while the Holy Spirit makes it perspicuous. The exhale: the unbeliever believes in Christ, and the Holy Spirit under efficacious grace, makes faith effectual.

2. At the point of faith in Christ.

a. The unbeliever makes a non-meritorious decision to believe in Christ. But because this faith comes from one who is spiritually dead, God the Holy Spirit must make the faith effectual; this is the doctrine of efficacious grace. Without this ministry of the Holy Spirit, there is no validity in the faith of an unbeliever. There is nothing valid in what an unbeliever does or thinks as far as relationship with God is concerned. But the Holy Spirit makes this faith effectual in every case!

b. From the human viewpoint we simply believe in Christ for salvation. From the divine viewpoint, the very second we believe, God the Holy Spirit makes that faith effectual; He carries us into salvation.

B. The First Mention of Common Grace in the Bible, Gen 6:3.

1. Gen 6:3, “Then the Lord said, “My Spirit [Holy Spirit] shall not convince inside mankind forever. For in his going astray [total depravity], he is also flesh [spiritual death at birth]. Nevertheless, his days shall be 120 years [before the flood would occur].”

2. The Spirit is not “striving,” (as per the King James Version), but making lucid, clarifying Gospel information. Note the 120 years: as long as you’re alive, the Spirit will “strive” with you. In other words, you have the chance to believe in Christ as long as you’re alive. If you die without doing so, you will go to hell.

3. “Striving", translated “convincing inside mankind” is the Spirit’s ministry of common grace.

C. The Mechanics of Common Grace, Jn 16:8-11

. 1. Verse 8-9, “And He [Holy Spirit], when He comes, will convince the world [unbelievers] concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me.”

a. Verse 9 explains “sin” in verse 8; don’t divorce the two.

b. Personal sin is not the issue in the Gospel. It is only an issue in total depravity. There is only one sin for which Christ could not die: disbelief in His person and work on the Cross.

c. The idea of repenting of sin has nothing to do with the Gospel presentation. Unbelievers repent of their sins, are reformed, and are still not saved. Repentance is not an issue in salvation.

d. The sin, here, refers to rejection of Christ. So the issue is faith or lack of faith. God the Holy Spirit never picks up repentance, or baptism, or anything else and carries it to salvation except faith in Christ. Jn 3:18, “...He that does not believe is already judged, because he has not believed in the name of the unique Son of God.”

e. Sins are not even the issue at the Last Judgment, but the human good which the unbeliever tries to substitute for faith in Christ. Only something that was not judged at the cross could be used as the basis for condemnation at the last judgment. That something is not your personal sins, since they were judged on the cross, but your human good, your good deeds from the area of strength of the old sin nature.

2. Verse 10, “and concerning [imputed] righteousness, because I go to My Father, and you no longer see Me.”

a. This is a reference to the righteousness of Christ during the First Advent, i.e., the righteousness which He produced in the prototype divine dynasphere. This righteousness of Christ we share through the baptism of the Spirit at salvation.

b. Spiritually dead mankind cannot produce perfect righteousness. Isa 64:6, “Our righteousness is as filthy rags in His sight.” It is the job of the Holy Spirit to make this clear.

c. This is a remarkable prophecy concerning the Church Age. People at that time saw Christ’s humanity in Hypostatic Union, but not His deity. They saw His perfect righteousness.

d. During the Church Age the Lord is not visible. Therefore He has to be represented. He is represented by the spiritual gift of evangelism, by the royal family witnessing, and by the Gospel.

e. So in evangelism, we must present the unique person of Jesus Christ. Once Jesus Christ is resurrected and ascended, there is no visible demonstration of perfect righteousness except the message of the Gospel.

f. In resurrection, Jesus Christ went to God the Father as the God-man with perfect righteousness as God and with perfect righteousness as man. So no humanity goes to heaven without perfect righteousness!

g. It is impossible for us to have perfect righteousness with our old sin natures. Our answer is salvation, when God’s perfect righteousness is imputed to us. To live with God forever we must have the same perfect righteousness as God. Spiritually dead man cannot produce perfect righteousness or eternal life.

h. It’s the job of the Holy Spirit to make this clear. God the Holy Spirit now communicates the principle of imputed righteousness at salvation or justification by faith.

i. Some will believe in Jesus Christ because of the perfect righteousness issue; others because of the sin issue. The rarest of all is the one who believes in Christ because of the judgment issue.

3. Verse 11, “and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.”

a. Satan has been judged and sentenced to the Lake of Fire. Satan was judged at the end of the first phase of the prehistoric angelic conflict. Man was created to resolve the angelic conflict and so was given free will like angels have.

b. Satan and all fallen angels have already been sentenced to the Lake of Fire based on their decisions in eternity past.

c. The person who follows the pattern of the fallen angels’ unbelief or rejection of Christ will share the eternal judgment of Satan and the fallen angels, Mt 25:41. “Then He will say to those on His left hand, `Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels.’” This analogy is made clear by the Holy Spirit in His ministry of common grace.

d. Human history is designed to prove that God’s judgment is fair. Therefore, Satan was judged on the same basis that all unbelievers were judged; he rejected what was provided by God! His rejection leads to his judgment!

e. So in this light, the Gospel is presented; i.e., man was created to resolve the angelic conflict. Man was given free will, like angels, to resolve it. Satan and fallen angels have already been sentenced to the Lake of Fire forever. And human history demonstrates the validity of this judgment.

D. The Principle of Common Grace.

1. Common grace is the theological nomenclature for the ministry of the Holy Spirit in evangelism or the presentation of the Gospel. This is 100% the work of the Holy Spirit, invisible and not felt or experienced.

2. The Gospel is presented or recalled, but because of spiritual death at birth and the total depravity of mankind, plus the dichotomous state of the unbeliever, man cannot understand or comprehend the Gospel, 1 Cor 2:11, “For what man understands the things of man except the spirit of life [frame of reference] which is in him, even so the things of God [gospel doctrine] no one [unbeliever] has known except the Spirit of God.”

a. With a frame of reference, we can think as unbelievers if we have enough vocabulary and enough motivation. We are designed to be rational creatures, even as unbelievers. But as unbelievers, we can only think within the frame of reference of the unbeliever. And the unbeliever has no absolute truth; everything’s relative.

b. Therefore, no matter how smart you are, as an unbeliever you cannot handle absolute truth. Human I.Q. is not an issue in understanding the Gospel, for we are all spiritually dead. God overcomes the lowest and highest I.Q. by the grace ministry of the Holy Spirit. None of us could have ever responded to the Gospel without the ministry of the Holy Spirit in common grace.

3. This is the enabling power of the Spirit to comprehend the Gospel. There is no human frame of reference for spiritual information; it must be provided by God the Holy Spirit.

E. The Spirit’s ministry of common grace continues into the Christian life.

1. Under common grace the Holy Spirit acts as a human spirit for the comprehension of the Gospel.

2. This ministry continues into the Christian life under the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit.

3. In regeneration the Holy Spirit creates a human spirit for the immediate imputation of eternal life at salvation.

4. The Bible emphasizes the difference between man’s soul and spirit. Heb 4:12, “The word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing between the soul and the spirit...”

4. The unbeliever is dichotomous, 1 Cor 2:14; Jude 19. The believer is trichotomous, Mt 26:41; 1 Thes 5:23; Phile 25, Heb 4:12. Inside of a spiritually dead person, the soul can understand certain academic subjects or a language. But with regard to God and what He is and what He has done for us, it is impossible for him to understand because he is spiritually dead.

5. After salvation, the Holy Spirit teaches our human spirit, Rom 8:16. This teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit to the human spirit is an extension of common grace in the sense that it only occurs inside your very own palace, the operational-type divine dynasphere. The Holy Spirit is always the teacher.

6. Therefore, it is important to be filled with the Spirit once you have believed in Christ. You will never learn anything apart from the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The filling of the Spirit is the enabling power of the Spirit inside the operational-type divine dynasphere.

7. When Bible doctrine is taught by your right pastor, only residence in the divine dynasphere under the enabling power of the Holy Spirit teaches that doctrine under operation Z, Jn 14:26, 16:12-16; 1 Cor 2; 1 Jn 2:27. Everything we have ever learned in Bible doctrine is courtesy of God the Holy Spirit!

8. The ministry of the Holy Spirit in common grace to the unbeliever continues after salvation as the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit to the believer. 1 Cor 2:12, “For we have not received the world’s frame of reference, but the human spirit from God, that we might know the things [our portfolio] which have been graciously given to us by God.”

a. Now we have the whole realm of the mystery doctrine, and we are to master it and grow in grace.

b. “By God” is HUPO + ablative of agency from THEOS, which is most unusual. The ablative of agency means that were it not for the Holy Spirit, we would never understand these things. It means that all absolute truth has its source in eternal and infinite God.

F. The Exegetical Presentation of Human Volition in the Doctrine of Common Grace, Eph 1:13. Eph 1:13, “In Whom you also [when unbeliever], when you heard [common grace] the message of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, in whom also when you believed, you were sealed by the Holy Spirit...”

1. There are two acts of human volition in common grace: hearing the Gospel and believing in Jesus Christ.

2. You have to want to hear the Gospel and concentrate on its presentation. God the Holy Spirit will make that Gospel information real in your soul so that you now have information on which to make a decision.

3. God the Holy Spirit in common grace makes Gospel information comprehensible to the spiritually dead unbeliever.

G. The Doctrine of Providence.

1. The doctrine of providence demands that the power of God be effective in the world of the spiritually dead, the world of unsaved human beings.

2. The providence of God is the divine outworking of the divine decrees, the object being the final manifestation of God’s glory.

3. The doctrine of providence expresses the fact that the world and our lives are not ruled by chance or fate, but by God who reveals the purpose of providence through the work of Christ on the cross and the revelation of that work in the doctrine of common grace.

4. Providence must be linked with the victory of Jesus Christ!

5. The purpose of providence is manifest in the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union, in Jesus Christ being judged for our sins.

6. The policy of providence to the believer is manifested in logistical grace where winners and losers are not only sustained in this life as believers, but are even blessed.

7. The Greek verb PRONOEO means to think beforehand, to take care, to provide for, to take into consideration, to perceive in advance, to know or to think in advance. It is used three times in the New Testament.

a. 2 Cor 8:21 says “We have regard for what is honorable, not only in the sight of the Lord, but in the sight of men.”

b. Rom 12:17, “Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect [take thought for] what is right in the sight of the Lord.”

c. 1 Tim 5:8, “But if anyone does not provide for his own family, he has denied the doctrine of giving and is worse than an unbeliever.”

8. This verb was used by Philo of Alexandria who used God as the subject of PRONOEO in his book. His phrase, “God is the source of providence in the world” used PRONOEO, so he invented the concept of the providence of God, and that’s how the doctrine got started. It’s not found in the Bible, though its noun is.

9. The Greek noun PRONOIA, translated providence or forethought, is found with God as the subject in the poetry of Sophocles and Aeschylus where it is used for prior vision or knowledge. In fact, the Greeks used PRONOIA as a proper noun to describe Athena of Delphi as the goddess of clever fore- thought, as stated by Demosthenes in his orations. This was picked up in the Greek lexicon of Swedus in the tenth century A.D., who saw the principle that the Greeks really had invented the concept of providence, ascribing to the gods divine foresight. Hence, the Greeks invented the concept of providence, ascribing it to the pantheon of gods whom they worshipped.

10. Stoicism in the time of the Romans used PRONOIA technically as an abstract designation of God. Hence, providence was a technical word in their philosophy.

11. But the New Testament never speaks of divine PRONOIA. In Acts 24:2, it is rhetorically ascribed to the Procurator Felix by Paul’s accusers who addressed Felix as follows: “Since we have, through you, attained much peace, and since by your providence reforms are being carried out in this nation.”

12. Providence then, like so many theological terms, is not a Biblical word but a technical word in theology.

13. The expression of divine providence toward the believer is manifest in logistical grace. The expression of divine providence toward the unbeliever is manifest in the opportunity for any member of the human race to be saved, receiving common and efficacious grace.

14. Providence is extended to God’s forethought, omniscience, and His functional care over creatures, both good and evil, but especially those creatures who have exercised positive volition toward His will and have believed in Christ. The providence of God has everything to do with any happiness you will ever have!

15. God’s providence is seen in selection at physical birth and in election in regeneration. The providence of God created your very own personal life! Your life wasn’t developed; it was created. Your body is a result of a combination of genes. But the life that was put into your body at birth is the providence of God and the doctrine of selection.

16. God’s providence in relationship to the regenerate is as follows in the Church Age:

a. The provision of our very own portfolio of invisible assets. If you do not understand those assets, you cannot execute God’s plan and will for your life.

b. The provision of the protocol plan of God for the royal family of the Church Age. Only perfect God could provide a perfect plan that could be executed by imperfect persons!

c. The victory of resurrection belongs to God alone, 1 Cor 15:57.

d. The provision of the eternal state. This includes your very own resurrection body, and for those who execute the protocol plan of God, your very own special rewards and blessing above and beyond your dreams.

17. Furthermore, there’s no way anyone can cancel the providence of God in four areas of your life:

a. Salvation. There’s nothing you can do by way of sin, human good, or evil to cancel God’s providence. God’s providence is greater than your failure, sin, evil, or anything you can do!

b. Portfolio of invisible assets. You cannot lose! Those assets are provided by the providence of God, and are far, far greater than any ignorance or inability on your part. You will have your portfolio of invisible assets until the day you die. Whether you use them or not depends first on dispelling your ignorance, and secondly, once you understand them, upon your using them. This is how we link up with the providence of God for the most fantastic blessings!

c. Protocol plan of God, which is designed by the providence of God, and is therefore far greater than any plan we can devise. At some time or another, all of us have our own plans which do not jibe with God’s plan for our lives. We have our own priorities which are often wrong, our own scale of values which are mixed up, and our own plans which are often a manifestation of arrogance, inordinate ambition and competition, all of which is evil. However, you will never ever even begin to function under God’s plan unless you understand and know it.

18. It follows, then, that the providence of God is also linked to the doctrines of common and efficacious grace.

19. So the providence of God demands that the power of God be effective in the world of the spiritually dead. Since the spiritually dead can do nothing to gain relationship with God or approbation from God, it becomes necessary for the providence of God to step in.

20. The Holy Spirit under the doctrine of the providence of God has several ministries to the world of unbelievers:

a. The ministry of restraint related to sin, human good, and evil. Were it not for this ministry of restraint, the human race would self-destruct.

b. The ministry of common grace whereby He makes the Gospel clear to the one who listens.

21. The providence of God protects the human race from self-destruction through divine judgment to groups, nations, and individuals. In this way, the providence of God provides freedom for the entire human race through the laws of divine establishment.

21. The providence of God also provides for believers:

a. Spiritual freedom to execute the protocol plan of God in the divine dynasphere.

b. Efficacious grace plus the other six ministries of God the Holy Spirit. 22. Hence, we must conclude that neither Stonewall Jackson nor Abraham Lincoln used “providence” correctly.

H. Summary.

1. Common grace is the doctrine of providence demanding that the power of God be effective in the world of the spiritually dead. The unbeliever is spiritually dead from birth.

2. Therefore, the Holy Spirit has several ministries to the world of unbelievers:

a. Restraint of sin, human good, and evil for the preservation of human history.

b. The ministry of common grace.

3. Pertinent to Eph 1:13 is the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in common grace, for it represents the sovereignty of God in evangelism.

4. While the unbeliever as a spiritually dead person can express his positive volition by listening to the Gospel, that is a non-meritorious function. The merit is in the work of the Holy Spirit in making the Gospel understood, so that a further decision can be made for or against salvation, understanding the consequences of either decision: eternal life or eternal condemnation.

5. Common grace takes cognizance of the fact that while the unbeliever can use his volition to listen to the Gospel, he cannot understand in his spiritually dead brain what the Gospel implies.

6. Therefore, the Holy Spirit functions as a human spirit to make the Gospel comprehensible. Personal sin is not the issue, but faith in the person of Christ whose work on the cross was efficacious.

7. Two requirements for salvation are made comprehensible by the Holy Spirit in common grace: the possession of perfect righteousness and the possession of eternal life, which both belong to us the moment we believe in Christ.

8. Without God’s grace and divine help, i.e., without the providence of God, none of us would have ever been saved.

Also see the doctrine of the Convicting Ministry of the Holy Spirit, which combines the doctrines of common and efficacious grace.

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